Apple updates Mac OS to squash bugs

Apple Computer on Tuesday released an update for its Mac OS X that repairs several security flaws and includes feature updates.

The update, Mac OS X 10.4.7, fixes four security vulnerabilities, Symantec said in an alert sent to customers. "These issues can be exploited to cause denial-of-service conditions, gain access to sensitive information, and execute code," it said.

The security flaws lie in various components of Mac OS X, Symantec said. There is no known attack code for the vulnerabilities, the company said, indicating that there is no threat imminent to Mac users.

Apple late Tuesday on its security Web site said the update fixes a total of five flaws, four of which affect both the client version of Mac OS X and one, in ClamAV, that impacts only the server release. Apple's last security update, in May, addressed bugs in Mac OS X and QuickTime.

Aside from the security fixes, Mac OS X 10.4.7 delivers some improvements and repairs a few issues related to Mail, Finder and iChat, among other things, according to a posting on Apple's support Web site.

If iChat users encounter a problem while trying to set up a conference, they can now send a message to Apple that automatically outlines what went wrong, much the same way Safari users can choose to send a message when the browser crashes, Apple said.

The update also fixes a number of issues with syncing, improving support for Motorola phones and fixing some problems with .Mac syncing, according to Apple. Users can download Mac OS X 10.4.7 through Software Update or the standalone installer.

Apple plans to showcase Mac OS 10.5, code-named Leopard, at its annual developer meeting in August, the company announced Monday.